Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 Demo

Soccer has been around for centuries, albeit in a different form than we enjoy it today. In essence, a lot more violence and chaos was permitted and even encouraged, which made the matches disturbing to say the least. Nowadays, fair play and equality define the sport, and there are countless rules and regulations that need to be respected by the teams and the players once they step onto the field.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is another issue in the successful football sim franchise developed by Konami, and it brings forth a variety of improvements when it comes to gameplay and visual appearance. In theory, the game should be a step above the previous version, although the improvements are not very groundbreaking either. As such, while you may indeed feel like you are playing something a bit different, the experience is more or less the same, overall.

Most changes address the teams and their rosters, because the latest transfer season shook things up quite a little bit. Hence, most clubs feature the official players and their equipment, although there still are a few missing licenses that may ruin the immersion every now and again. Thankfully, the situation is a lot better than in the previous years, when the selection of teams was a lot more disappointing.

One of the things that seems to make the difference between PES and EA’s FIFA is the fact that Konami seems more interested in the actual simulation, whereas FIFA focuses more on addictive career modes and the plethora of official licenses. However, if all you want is to experience soccer at its finest and not be disappointed by how the players react on the field, the game at hand may be the best choice.

On the other hand, it fails to be friendly with PC users, because the controls are almost impossible to figure out and set up on the keyboard. Obviously, it can be done after a bit of work, but even so, the controls feel stiff and unresponsive most of the time. On the same note, the visual quality is obviously below FIFA, but that shouldn’t deter players from enjoying the actual game.

In the end, Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is not a revolution in the franchise, but it improves quite a bit on its predecessor. Hence, if you do not mind the control annoyances and the slightly worse graphics, the game is tons of fun, and a lot more realistic than the competition.